Last night, Messi excelled over Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or. This is the 8th time the Argentine superstar has been honored with this award. That helps him extend his record of winning the Ballon d'Or.
Messi won the 8th Golden Ball award in his career, three times more than the second-placed C. Ronaldo (Photo: BR).
Up to this point, El Pulga has surpassed the second-placed C. Ronaldo by three times. The Portuguese superstar has won the Golden Ball five times and has almost no chance of catching up with Messi. That means the Argentine striker will hold this record for many more years.
In addition, Messi became the first player in history to win the Ballon d'Or at three different clubs. He won the award in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 with Barcelona and in 2021 with PSG. Now, Messi continues to be honored while playing for Inter Miami.
The No. 10 superstar also became the first player in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS) to win the Golden Ball. In the past, this tournament has never welcomed many stars of Messi's caliber.
Messi is the player with the longest gap between two Ballon d'Or wins (14 years).
Next, Messi is also the star with the longest gap between two Ballon d'Or wins. The first time El Pulga received this title was when he was only 22 years old. 14 years later, he continued to receive the Ballon d'Or award at the age of 36.
The Inter Miami player also set a record by becoming the player with the most times in the top 3 of the Golden Ball in history with 14 times. Since 2007, the superstar number 10 has only been out of this position twice.
In the past, the only player older than Messi to win the Ballon d'Or was Sir Stanley Matthews. The English football legend won the title at the age of 41 in 1956.
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